Friday, July 27, 2012

What If You Could Change Your World

There are several billion people
every day that would change their circumstances if they could. Whilst many of
these cannot do this, many also can. There is a discretionary component in many
of our lives. Sure, we have to work for a living but we have a say over how we
live our lives.

We don’t have to wait for a New
Year to arrive to make resolutions with ourselves—covenants with God. When we
are serious we can achieve anything we set our minds on.

What if changing our world was as
simple as addressing the way we feel?

How would we do that? We can
influence how we feel by becoming aware of and adjusting our thinking.

The Mind – Perhaps Our Greatest Gift
from God

Besides the gift of the Holy
Spirit, God’s Presence and the essence and evidence of his Kingdom within us,
the greatest gift we have, personally, is our minds. Underpinning the mind, of
course, is our heart. Both these together work in unison to inspire us to
decide what we do.

Again, underpinning the mind is
the heart, which we are to guard (Proverbs 4:23), because our hearts influence
our minds.

But, most of all, our minds decide. We can override our weaker feelings
by disciplined thinking. Discipline is a habit to be developed and maintained.
We are the ones who decide.

Disregarding how we feel we can
decide to do the right thing; to change; to delay no longer what we know we
must do. We can take counsel from our hearts, but our minds still decide. And
if we pray for wisdom, God will give us direction.

Utilising this gift, the clear
mind, we, in one moment, have the capacity to change our worlds. We can decide
to keep going—to persist—or to change direction entirely.

We Are Personally Responsible

If we have no influence over our
lives, who does? If we can’t change ourselves, who else could we expect to do
it? We are the ones who can change our lives through the simple act of changing
our minds—to point our minds in the direction of our purpose.

We are personally responsible for
chasing down this purpose; for determining what it is. Decisions of the
committed kind emerge out of our purpose.

But we have many implicit purposes
beyond ‘the purpose’. We have the purpose to maintain our health, to work, to
grow as persons. In each of these areas and more, we have the capacity to
change our worlds every instant.

***

We are the ones who can change our
worlds. Using the strength in our minds, we can decide to change. When we do we
can expect the full support of God. God desires a spirited people.